


Dido Dididi Didtum

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-26
Updated: 2009-05-26
Packaged: 2019-01-19 11:32:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12409521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: In the year 1876, after much debate, the British Ministry of Magic announced their decision to separate Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry into two single-sex intuitions. Supporters of the separation stated that it was necessary for males and females to be separated in order for them to fully take advantage of their learning opportunities. Opposition to the division argued ...





	Dido Dididi Didtum

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything written by J.K. Rowling, or any other wondrous author.

 

** Capitulus Unus  **

 

** A/N: So this story has been stuck in my head for almost two years now, and I’m finally getting it out on paper (or computer)! Yay! I know that many of you are probably a bit confused, and wondering what the heck is going on, but I beg you, please be patient and stay with my story. Everything will eventually be explained. And, as you might have noticed, I don’t like to say things straight out…I mix them into things :). So please review! I adore constructive criticism. Oh, and please know that I am in need of a beta (preferably one who likes to read/write Lily/James/Marauders), as you can probably tell from my writing :). So if you know anyone interested, please recommend! Thanks for your interest. I promise to update soon! **

 

_ In the year 1876, after much debate, the British Ministry of Magic announced their decision to separate Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry into two single-sex intuitions. Supporters of the separation stated that it was necessary for males and females to be separated in order for them to fully take advantage of their learning opportunities. Opposition to the division argued that if the founders wanted witches and wizards to learn separately, they would have made two different schools. The Ministry’s decision stood, and in 1877, Westlake Academy of Witchcraft was established west of the renamed Hogwarts School of Wizardry. Allowing students, no matter what gender, to attend their first year at Hogwarts was offered as appeasement, and was accepted. Soon the heat of the argument died down, and the British wizard society began to accept, and even praise, the two schools of learning. But with the new threat of a Dark Lord looming over Wizard Britain, some things just might change… _

 

* * *

Lily Evans shifted for the sixth time in the last fifteen minutes, anxiously focusing her green eyes on the compartment door.

 

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake, won’t just relax,” her best friend, Severus Snape, asked, irritated by her anxious antics.

 

“How can you tell me to _relax_!? Allison still has not come to the compartment and we have been on the train for half an hour!” the young witch ranted, once again looking at the door.

 

“Why do you all of the sudden care about that Daniels girls?” questioned Severus, completely ignoring his friend’s previous question. “It’s not like you two are actually friends, or anything of the sort.”

 

Lily narrowed her eyes at this statement. “What do you know about my friendship with Allison? For all you know, we could be _better_ friends than you and I!” Severus gave her a pointed look.

 

“You complained about how odd she was at all of the Hogsmead trips last year,” Severus replied with a smirk, knowing that he had upped the redhead. Lily blushed at the statement, knowing the truth behind it.

 

“Well we’re…friendly,” Lily replied, too stubborn to acknowledge that she was wrong. Severus raised an eyebrow at her.

 

“Ok fine!” Lily exclaimed, no longer wanting to be subjected to Severus’s looks. “We are not very good friends. But she is my roommate, and she has ridden the train with us for the past three years, so I’m _sorry_ for being just a bit worried that she isn’t ridding with us this year!’

 

“Maybe she made new friends,” Severus offered, knowing that his suggestion was as far from the truth as Lily’s statement had been. Now Lily raised her eyebrow at him.

 

“That was probably the most ridiculous thing you have ever said. Allison speaks to less people at Westlake than I do, and I only speak to the professors and a few upperclassmen. I _highly_ doubt that she has made any new friends.”

 

“Honestly, if I had to go to Westlake, I would refrain from speaking to any of those girls as well. Just from fear of loosing brain cells just through _conversation_.”

 

“Thank you Severus,” Lily replied. “It’s wonderful to know your thoughts on the female sex.”

 

“No Lily!” he said, realizing his blunder. “I think that there are many brilliant witches in the world, you included, but I’m just saying the mass of them do not attend Westlake.” Lily sighed, for he was telling the truth. Her fellow classmates at Westlake were, to put it simply, idiots.

 

“No, no Severus, you’re right. We don’t have the brightest bunch of girls at Westlake. I wish that the Ministry would just allow girls to study at Hogwarts again! They let the first year girls stay, why not the rest of us!”

 

“You know why Lily. The Ministry thinks that witches and wizards distract each other from the learning environment. They have thought so for almost a hundred years now.”

 

“Exactly! That idea was popular a hundred years ago! Don’t you think that we have progressed as a society by now? I mean, do you honestly think that I would be a distraction to you if I went to Hogwarts?” Severus blushed at this.

 

“Oh my goodness! You do! Severus!”

 

“No I don’t!” Severus replied. “I would love to work along side you. You would be nothing but an asset to the class.”

 

Lily smiled at this, choosing to believe her friend’s words.

 

“Exactly. Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin could do it. Why can’t everyone else?”

 

Severus nodded at this, much happier now that his friend was appeased. “Now can  we _please_ stop talking about this?” he pleaded, eager to get off of the subject. “How was your family this summer?” Lily’s face darkened at this.

 

“Absolutely dreadful. I hated going back and forth between the two. Sometimes I just wish they had stayed married. But then again, at least the shouting has decreased, seeing how they aren’t living under the same roof anymore.”

 

Clint and Rosalind Evans had finalized their divorce earlier that summer. Lily was initially shocked when the had announced their separation to her in the fall of her third year, but after spending Christmas with the two of them fighting worse than she and Petunia _ever_ had, she couldn’t have been more relieved when her father moved out in late June. 

But that relief was soon turned into annoyance when they informed her that they had joint custody, and that she would be spending her summer split between her childhood home with her mother, and her father’s new apartment in London. It was positively morbid.

 

“Well, how was Petunia?” Severus asked, though clearly only out of politeness, seeing how a snarl graced his angular face when he said the blonde’s name.

 

“She actually wasn’t as wretched as she usually is. It’s probably because she left in August for uni, and I only had to deal with her for July. But enough about the dysfunctional Evans clan; how was your holiday? You promised to tell me more about your time with Uncle Latchet. You barely said anything in your letters.”

 

So Severus proceeded to explain his time spent with his Uncle Latchet in Wales, and the two friends spent the rest of the train ride eating sweets and discussing much more cheerful subjects than the Hogwarts/Westlake debate and the Evans’s divorce.

 

* * *

Lily’s worry for her roommate’s absence reappeared at the Welcome Feast, when the shy girl was still nowhere to be seen. Even if Allison had made a new group of friends, she clearly would have at least seen her at the feast. Right? Lily scanned the Gryffindor girls’ side of the table once again, just to make sure. Delphine de Lure, Georgina Vance, Vera Minngatu, Florence Wittenberg, Emily Bruller, Rosemary Knight, Heather Albert, Andrea Loattman, Mary Beth Cobalt, Samantha Darcy, Michelle Willis…those were all of the Gryffindor girls in her year. And Allison wouldn’t dare to sit at another table. 

But Lily checked the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables (she knew for a fact, no matter how much she could have changed, Allison would _not_ sit at the Slytherin table), and Allison was not there as well. _Where could she be?_ Lily’s fretful thoughts were soon interrupted by Professor McGonagall’s assertive voice.

 

“Abaroa, Marcus!” the stern Professor announced. Lily blushed at her own inattentiveness. She had missed Professor Dumbledore’s introduction and the Sorting Hat’s song thinking about Allison’s whereabouts! Lily turned her mind to the sorting, chiding herself for her lack of attention and promising to focus more on her incoming housemates.

 

* * *

At the end of the sorting, Gryffindor had twelve new girls and fourteen new boys. Lily wondered if there was some sort of screening process done on the incoming students every year because each class always had an even amount of boys and girls, and twenty-four to twenty-eight people in each house. No more, no less. Lily shook her head, emptying it of bizarre Hogwarts/Westlake practices and turning her attention to the splendid feast. 

Lily was just about to start on a healthy serving of Sheppard’s Pie when she was violently shoved to her left as someone tried to squeeze into the small space between Lily and Rosemary Knight.

 

“Hello everyone!” the intruder all but screeched.

 

“Gretchen, I know that you’re lacking competence,” a voice stated from Lily’s left. She turned to see that it was Georgina Vance. The girl had a sickening smile on her face, as if she did not just insult Gretchen’s intelligence. “But I at least thought you had a sense of direction. The Hufflepuff table is over there.”

 

“I _know_ where the Hufflepuff table is!” Gretchen exclaimed, sticking her freckled nose in the air. “I was just coming over to introduce myself.”

 

“We all know who you are, Gretchen,” Florence Wittenberg said, joining the conversation. The blonde girl’s dry tone often reminded Lily of Severus. “So why bother to state the obvious.”

 

“I’m not stating the obvious, thank you very much _Florence_.” Florence rolled her eyes at the Hufflepuff, obviously loosing interest in the conversation seeing how she turned her attention back to her food.

 

“I’m introducing my new self--”

 

“Oh! Did you finally get your teeth fixed?” Andrea Lottaman asked from Lily’s left, smiling as she showed Gretchen her own perfectly straight teeth. The Hufflepuff witch blushed and placed a modest hand over herown slightly large front teeth as the fourth year Gryffindor girls giggled around her at Andrea’s jibe.

 

“No, I did _not_ get my teeth fixed! There is absolutely nothing wrong with them! Some of us are not so completely insecure that we need every little thing poked and prodded to fit into society’s image of beauty.” Lily smiled at the Hufflepuff’s little speech. Even though she found Gretchen Marche absolutely insufferable at times, someone needed to knock Andrea Lottaman off of her high horse once and awhile.

 

“But anyways,” Gretchen said, a smirk suddenly gracing her features. “I came over here to introduce myself as the new Prefect Petite.”

A collective groan sounded across the group of Gryffindor fourth years. Any likeness towards Gretchen that had emerged in the last ten minutes was completely thrown out of the window. Having Gretchen Marche as Prefect Petite all year was going to be unbearable! Lily thought she might as well go and jump into the lake right now, before the misery even started. Gretchen was already a brownnosing tattletale; now she had the authority to actually do so. The girl would be insufferable.

 

After looking over the group of girls’ reaction following her announcement, and probably pleased with the results, Gretchen removed herself from between Lily and Rosemary, and flounced off to the Hufflepuff table to finish her dinner. The minute she was out of earshot, Georgina rounded on Andrea.

 

“Great! Now she’s going to go out of her way to make all of the Gryffindors’ year awful just because you had to make the teeth comment,” the brunette raved, glaring daggers at the other Gryffindor.

 

“As if you weren’t thinking it! And, cauldron calling the kettle _black_ much, but you were the one who started it all with the whole ‘lacking competence’ comment!”

 

“Oh pish posh, my comment was--”

 

“That’s _enough_!” Not only did the Gryffindor fourth year girls stop talking and look, but also so did most of the other surrounding Gryffindors, as well as some nosy Hufflepuffs. Lily turned to her right to see who interrupted the argument, and was surprised to see that it was Delphine de Lure. The girl rarely ever spoke to anyone outside of her group of friends, let alone mediated arguments. 

Looking around, Lily saw that she was not the only one who was surprised. Most of the people surrounding the scuffle had a look of surprise; one that Lily was sure graced her face as well.

 

“Stop this little petty argument immediately. Its not going to change the fact that Miss Goody-Goody is Prefect Petite. If you all did not want it to be her so bad, than you should have behaved more ‘prefect-like’ these past few years. Gretchen Marche is it, so suck it up and get over it. I guarantee that she will be the annoying, nosy brat she has been for the past three years. She now had a badge to justify it. There’s no need to get your panties in a twist about it.”

 

Lily was floored. That was the most that she had ever heard the girl speak, and she was pretty sure that was the most anyone other than Delphine’s group of friends heard her speak. There was a collective murmur of agreement at the table. Thankfully, Professor Dumbledore’s loud greeting interrupted whatever someone else might have said.

 

“Welcome back students!” the Hogwarts Headmaster greeted. 

Even though she only had him for her first year, Lily really liked Professor Dumbledore. Not that she did not like Professor Bottleknot, the slightly looney headmistress of Westlake; but there was something unexplainably _good_ about Professor Dumbledore that Lily just liked about him.

 

“I hope that the feast was satisfying to you. I just have a few words of wisdom for you all before you head off to bed. First, the Forbidden Forest has its namesake for a reason. Please adhere to it. Second, Hogwarts/Westlake visits are only allowed through professor permission, and during the hours of nine o’clock a.m. and five o’clock p.m., with the exception of Quidditch and Equinus games. I know that many of you have many _friends_ and the sibling institution, but please follow these rules. They are for your safety. With that said, I bid you goodnight!” With those final words the students were released.

 

* * *

“Miss Evans,” a stern and familiar voice called out. Lily turned to see Professor McGonagall hurrying towards her. “Would you mind going straight to my office after the ride to Westlake? There are matters I need to discuss with you.”

 

“Certainly, Professor,” Lily replied, surprised to see her Head of House in the mass confusion of students either on their way to the carriages or (in the boys case) off to bed. “Would you mind me asking what dose this conversation concern?”

 

“It is a matter of rooming,” and with a curt nod, the woman was off.

 

Lily followed the rest of the Prefect led-Westlake students outside to the bridge, where they were to ride the carriages over to the campus. That anxious feeling that was with Lily all day had returned in full force after her brief conversation with McGonagall. Why did she need to have a discussion with Lily about rooming? Was Allison not coming at all? If so, then who would she room with? Would she room by herself? 

At that thought, Lily suddenly became less anxious. She liked the thought o rooming by herself. The only reason she liked rooming with Allison was because the introverted girl kept to herself. If Lily were living by herself, she wouldn’t have to deal with anyone. Yes, her meeting with McGonagall was looking _much_ more fabulous.

 

* * *

“Thank you for being so accommodating Miss Evans. I know you and your new roommates will do just fine together. Have a good night.”

 

So her fabulous meeting with McGonagall actually wasn’t so fabulous. In fact, it was _far_ from fabulous; it was a disaster. Not only was she informed that Allison and her family had moved to Switzerland ( _Switzerland!?_ ), but that she would be moving into a dormitory with not one, but two other girls! Why didn’t McGonagall just off her then and there in her office? Then Westlake wouldn’t have the problem of uneven roommates.

 When Lily made the _brilliant_ suggestion of the school allowing her to room by herself, McGonagall shot it down completely: an absolute no-go. She gave some lame excuse about “safety precautions”, or something equally idiotic. What about _sanity_ precautions?! Did the idiots in the Westlake administration care about that? How were three girls supposed to live in one dormitory together and share a toilet with two other girls? Lily nearly died having to share the toilet with Allison, Michelle Willis, and Heather Albert. She had been sharing with those three for two years and she was just starting to get used to them. Now she had to switch it up?

 

Lily looked at the piece of parchment that Professor McGonagall had handed to her informing her of her new residence.

 

“GG7823,” she mumbled to herself. “GG7823.” She knew that GG was for Gryffindor Girls and the 78 was the year of their graduation, but she couldn’t remember who lived in the 23/24 suites. She, Allison, Heather, and Michelle had lived in the 27/28 suites, Emily Buller and Rosemary Knight in the 21/22…

 

Suddenly, Lily remembered who lived in the 23/24 suites. And apparently, she must have unconsciously stuck some sort of deal with the Devil himself: because her life was turning out to be hell on Earth.

 

****

** A/N: So this is it! I hope you liked it... :) I promise to update soon (unless of course I get nothing but really awful reviews about how terrible it is). Much love!  **

 

** LLL **

 

 

 

 

  



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